6. Less Fortunate

I’ll never forget the first time I saw a poor woman and her child eating off from the floor with their tattered clothes and shoeless feet. It made me realize that I had plenty to be thankful for, and that I was being selfish. I was being selfish because I constantly wished for my life to end, when theirs could end anytime due to lack of food or the usual necessity of a human being. Then and there was the first time I decided, that I would live and help serve the poor.

They had stopped walking, and were now standing in front of a fast food restaurant. She didn’t know how long they had been walking, an hour perhaps? Not that she minded, of course. During their walk, they had talked about things like books, music, people, ambitions and food. It seemed that all their food talk had rendered her hungry. Fortunately, here they were, in front of a fast food restaurant. Suzy turned to Myungsoo with an apologetic smile and slowly rubbed her belly.

Myungsoo chortled. “Actually, I am, too. Let’s have brunch here, shall we?”

Suzy nodded whilst smiling, knowing that their food talk didn’t just render her, but Myungsoo as well. Wrapping her fingers around the metallic handle, she pulled the glass door open, and said: “After you, Myungsoo.”

The male shook his head, took Suzy’s place and gestured for her to enter first. “Don’t you know that a gentleman mustn’t enter before the lady?” Then, he chuckled. Myungsoo grinned as he watched Suzy step foot into the restaurant, but before he could follow suit, a young boy with tattered clothes and broken shoes tugged on his t-shirt.

“Excuse me, mister; do you have any change to spare?”

Myungsoo’s heart ached at the sight, and bent down so that he was of the same level as the young boy. He gave his most sincere smile, and took out 20 dollars out of his back pocket. “Hang on,” he told the boy and turned to Suzy, who had a sad look on her face. “Suzy, can you please help me buy a cheeseburger?”

Suzy, surprised, nodded and stammered: “O-oh y-yeah, sure.” And quickly ran off to buy the cheeseburger.

After a few minutes, she returned and saw Myungsoo sitting on the public bench outside the restaurant. He seemed to be conversing with the young boy about airplanes. She smiled at how animated Myungsoo was.  “Here, Myungsoo,” she said upon arriving.

“Give me the cheeseburger and the drink.”

Suzy complied and handed him both. She watched in awe as Myungsoo handed it to the younger boy beside him without a word, but with a bright smile. “Here’s the change, Myungsoo.”

Myungsoo took the change but instead of placing it back into his back pocket, he took out another 20 dollar bill and passed both of it to the boy. “It’s not a lot, but here,” he said.

The young boy looked up at Myungsoo and Suzy with a surprised look, but later on, smiled widely. When he was done eating, he thanked both of them gleefully, and walked away. Occasionally, until he was out of sight, he kept turning around to see if Myungsoo and Suzy had. Suzy laughed at this, and flashed Myungsoo a delightful smile. “You like helping people, don’t you?”

Without turning to look at Suzy, he said: “They’re a reason to live you know, the less fortunate. We have so many things to be thankful for, things they don’t have and might never have. We constantly take our lives for granted and wish for it to end, and their lives could end anytime. People should know that they don’t have to live just for themselves, but for them, too.” Myungsoo turned to look at Suzy, and saw that she was looking at him with a serious expression. He scoffed. “Come on, I’ll treat you to some good burger.”

“No,” Suzy responded. “I’ll treat you to some good burger.”